PHIL 310 - Seminar in Analytic Philosophy

Semester Offered: Fall and Spring
1 unit(s)

310-01a: Analytic Intersections: Where Epistemology and Philosophy of Language meet Value Theory. In this course we will read books published within the last two years on a wide range of different subjects where epistemology and the philosophy of language intersect with value theory. The topics are not yet set, but might include: how would we, and ought we, to act in the event that we come to know that the world will end shortly after our own deaths? How is knowledge about right and wrong different from knowledge about empirical matters of fact, and is there a defensible epistemology of right and wrong that allows for the objectivity of ethical judgments? What is the difference between lying and misleading in ethical and legal matters, and what does this distinction say about the theory of meaning? Is self-knowledge a special kind of knowledge, or is it merely a species of empirical knowledge? How much are we as limited creatures committed to trust in epistemic authority, and how does this serve to justify religious or political beliefs that are not made autonomously, but deferentially? Mr. Lam.

One 2-hour period.

310-51b: Self-Knowledge and its Limits. There are many different, interrelated types of self-knowledge: knowledge of who I am, knowledge of what I am thinking or feeling, knowledge of what I am doing and why, knowledge of my place in the world. A recent surge of philosophical work on self-knowledge offers fresh perspectives on what makes self-knowledge so immediate and so authoritative, but also what makes it so elusive. This seminar will focus on this new work, situating it in the context of some older traditions, in order to achieve a fuller understanding of both the possibilities and the limits of self-knowledge. Ms. Church.

One 3-hour period.

Prerequisite: one 200-level course in Philosophy.